- Farm animal welfare
- The development of animal welfare assessment methods
- Human behaviour change for improving animal welfare
- The evolutionary psychology of pet keeping
- Feline welfare e.g. indoor versus outdoor housing
- The impact of infant features in animals on human behaviour and animal welfare
My research is focused on animal welfare and human-animal interactions. Specifically, I am interested in research on farm animal welfare, including pigs, beef and dairy cattle, and broiler chickens. I am also interested in anthrozoology, feline welfare, and evolutionary psychology. Current research interests include human behaviour change for improving animal welfare and understanding the evolutionary mechanisms underlying infant features in companion animals.
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Dr Grace Carroll
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- Focused on the psychology of relief, future thinking and debt, and cross-cultural differences in essentialist thinking.
I am interested in the role of thinking in everyday life and in how thinking develops. I have strong interests in judgement and decision making and in associated emotions such as regret and relief. I am also interested in how people think about categories and the role played by essentialist beliefs about social categories in how we think about other people. More recently I have developed applied interests around the psychology of debt and the psychology of medicine adherence.
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Dr Aidan Feeney
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- The human animal bond
- Animal welfare
- Laterality in animals
- Pets and human health
My research concentrates on animal behaviour and welfare, with a particular focus on the domestic dog. Much of my work has been concerned with exploring the welfare of animals housed in captivity (e.g. zoos, rescue kennels) and finding ways of improving psychological well-being through the implementation of novel and scientifically tested enrichment strategies. Other research areas include pets and human health, behaviour problems in companion animals and laterality in animals.
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Dr Deborah Wells
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- Psychosocial adjustment in chronic conditions
- Arts in health
- Animals and health
- Vaccination hesitancy
- Eating behavior
My main research interests reside in the development of individual-level or public-level interventions to improve mental and physical health. In particular I am interested in the impact that chronic physical conditions such as diabetes have on young people, adults, and family members, and exploring ways to support psychosocial adjustment.
Animal-assisted interventions and art-based therapy and methodologies are also areas of interest to me. In future research I am also keen to explore public health issues such as vaccination hesitancy and eating behavior.
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Dr Emma Berry
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- The measurement of auditory perception in young children
- Early precursors to the development of language or literacy
- Trajectories of neural development for speech and language processing in infancy and early childhood
Dr Fosker’s main research interests are broadly in the development of speech and language. His recent work has focused on the auditory precursors to speech processing and the impact that these have on later literacy development. He uses behavioural psychoacoustic methods and well as neural measures (EEG) with infants and young children. He works with both typically and atypically developing populations of children.
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Dr Tim Fosker
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- Arts in health, music health and wellbeing
- Ageing
- Psycho-oncology
- Health behavior change
- Digital health technologies
My primary research interest is the impact of the arts on health and wellbeing. In particular, the role of everyday music listening in stress and emotion regulation; the effects of group singing on psychological adjustment in chronic illness and other life transitions; lifespan changes in socio-emotional experiences. I am also interested in research in the area of psycho-oncology exploring the psychological experience of people living with and beyond cancer, and enhancing the effect of digital health technology on behaviour change.
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Dr Jenny Groarke
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- Psychosocial intervention development for post-treatment cancer survivors and carers
- Improving quality of life in advanced illness
- Public health approaches to palliative care
- Psychosocial interventions in spinal deformity
My research interests are broadly in the assessment and management of psychological wellbeing and quality of life in chronic conditions. In particular I am interested in the assessment and management of late and longer-term effects in post-treatment cancer survivors, particularly psychological adjustment. Intervention development in palliative and end of life care (both malignant/non-malignant conditions) to enhance psychological wellbeing and quality of life. Lastly, building resilience in healthcare professionals
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Dr Lisa Graham-Wisener
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- Auditory perception in relation to coordination / mobility (including in people with visual impairments or Parkinson’s disease)
- Auditory augmented feedback in skill acquisition / rehabilitation
- Skill acquisition in music, particularly in musical improvisation
My main research interests are in perceptual-motor coordination and skill acquisition, with a specific focus on auditory-motor coordination. My research includes: studying how people synchronise with a beat or walk to rhythmic sounds; investigating how interactive sounds can be used as feedback to enhance learning of motor skills; skill acquisition in music performance, including understanding how sound-movement coupling emerges through musical training, and techniques to enhance musical skill acquisition in the context of music improvisation.
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Dr Matthew Rodger
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- PhD projects on addiction (with a particular focus on alcohol) and mental health research utilising psychological approaches to prevention, assessment and intervention.
I lead research which aims to prevent and alleviate the suffering and economic burden caused by addiction and common mental health difficulties. Through rigorous development work, experimental and mediation testing utilising innovative methods my research attempts to improve ways of preventing, assessing and treating these issues at individual, family, community and population levels. Implementation fidelity from research to the real-world context is also an important consideration - ensuring impact outside of the University environment.
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Dr Paul Toner
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- Field of cultural diversity
- Immigration and integration
- Identity politics
- Educational success
- Political participation of immigrants and minorities
- Using a wide range of methods from comparative, multi-level, longitudinal research designs and analyses to experimental and intervention studies.
Dr. Baysu’s research focuses on the social psychology of cultural diversity, immigration and integration, educational success of immigrants and minorities, intergroup relations, identity processes, identity politics and political participation of minorities.
Her explanatory approach is based on social, developmental and political psychology. She uses a wide variety of research methods from comparative, multi-level, longitudinal research designs and analyses to experimental and intervention studies.
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Dr Gülseli Baysu
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- Psychological trauma
- PTSD, Complex PTSD and Posttraumatic Growth
- The development of Psychosis
- Constructing and assessing mental health measures, test and questionnaires
- Using digital phenotyping and apps in mental health • Systematic reviews, meta-analysis and evidence gap maps in mental health
- Psychometric properties of Mental Health Measures
- Modelling predictors of mental health including: self-conscious emotions (especially shame), physical health & exercise, socio-economic status, childhood adversity & abuse, measurement issues, trauma appraisals, coping styles, etc.
Dr Hanna's primary research interest is mental health including the measurement and modelling of psychological trauma, psychosis and related constructs. He has substantial experience leading, supervising and collaborating on a range of mental health and well-being projects. He is a recognised expert in research design, quantitative analyses and psychometrics.
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Dr Donncha Hanna
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- Perceptual basis of movement
- Design of non-viral delivery systems
Dr. Dessing’s research team is dedicated to furthering the fundamental understanding sensorimotor control and eye-hand coordination, particularly in the context of movements constrained both in space and time (e.g., catching). This concerns both neural dynamics and the observable motor behaviour. This fundamental understanding and the underlying skills are further applied in sports, health and manufacturing scenarios.
Dr. Dessing employs advances technologies and data analysis, ranging from brain stimulation, motion tracking, virtual reality to mathematical modelling of sensorimotor control.
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Dr Joost Dessing
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Dr Doumas’ research team at the Balance Neuroscience Lab is dedicated to understanding how the neuromuscular system achieves upright standing. Our aim is to reduce fall incidents over the lifespan and to improve quality of life in
Healthy (children, young and older adults)
Clinical (Parkinson’s, Depression) and
Atypical (Autism) populations
In our lab we use behavioural and neurophysiological techniques, including motion capture, posturography, EMG, TMS, tDCS and fNIRS to study behavioural and neural mechanisms of balance control.
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Dr Mihalis Doumas
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- Canine olfaction
- Canine cognition
- Medical alert dogs
- Well-being of pet owners
- Collection of biological samples for training dogs
My general research interests are animal cognition, animal psychophysics, and applied animal behaviour. My research focuses on domestic dog olfaction and how best to train and evaluate sniffer dogs for a variety of applications.
In particular, I am interested in the use of sniffer dogs for the detection of physiological changes in humans and how sniffer dogs can improve their owners’ quality of life. I am also interested in how the study of animal cognition can inform the care of, and improve the welfare of captive animals.
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Dr Catherine Reeve
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Promoting confidence in contact among school children
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Developing interventions to promote positive intergroup behaviour
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Nostalgia and intergroup relations
Professor Turner’s research focuses on intergroup contact.
Topics of investigation include identifying factors that predict cross-group friendships among school children, examining consequences of these friendships for intergroup relations, and developing and testing prejudice-reduction of interventions based on e-contact (online intergroup communication), extended contact (learning about other people’s contact experiences), and imagined contact (imagining a positive contact experience).
Professor Turner is also interested in predictors and consequences of intergroup romantic relationships, and the influence of nostalgia on intergroup relations.
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Professor Rhiannon Turner
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Design and evaluation of community interventions to promote social cohesion
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Superordinate, cross-cutting, and alternative forms of identification in divided societies
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Development and maintenance of cross-group friendships
Dr Blaylock’s research focuses on intergroup relations, intergroup conflict and social change in divided societies and is closes associated with social identity theory and contact theory. As an applied researcher these theoretical constructs are examined within "real-world" contexts; particularly those found within divided communities.
Her current work explores contact initiatives designed to promote social cohesion in divided societies, the emotive relationship between the police force and young people in Northern Ireland, and experiences of shared identity through parades and commemorations.
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Dr Danielle L Blaylock
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My research is framed by an intergroup developmental approach to study risk and resilience processes for youth in settings of protracted conflict. My work has implications for youth outcomes, such as aggression, prosocial behaviours and social identity, as well as broader psychosocial processes, such as shared education and intergroup relations, which may fuel or constrain conflict. Toward this end, I study how and why violence affects behaviours and attitudes related to conflict transformation, primarily during adolescence.
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Dr Laura K Taylor
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- Modelling the psychological predictors of health-related quality of life via reviews of current literature and primary research
- Designing and evaluating interventions to enhance quality of life and modify illness and sick-role behaviours.
- Developing and testing instruments to measure psychological constructs of importance in this area, eg. health-related quality of life.
Dr Dempster’s research is focused on enhancing the psychological well-being / quality of life of people with chronic illness (cancer, diabetes and heart disease) and their families. More specifically:
Modelling the psychological predictors of health-related quality of life via reviews of current literature and primary research
Designing and evaluating interventions to enhance quality of life and modify illness and sick-role behaviours.
Developing and testing instruments to measure psychological constructs of importance in this area, eg. health-related quality of life.
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Dr Martin Dempster
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- Visual motion processing
- Perceived duration of visual events
- Identifying cortical loci of motion-induced illusions
- Role of laughter in social interaction
My current interests are in the areas of motion transparency, interactions between direction sensitive mechanisms, neural mechanisms underlying adaptation in the human visual system, local & global motion processing, and time perception, as well as investigating the role of laughter in social interaction.
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Dr Will Curran
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- Facial expression of emotion
- Sensorimotor simulation and facial mimicry
- Culture and emotion
- Development of emotional competence
My research focuses on expressions of emotions, their effects, and the mechanisms underlying their perception and interpretation. At QUB, I work with Dr. William Curran and Dr. Gary McKeown. Our team investigates social functions and characteristics of laughter produced in different contexts. I am also interested in facial expressions of emotions, especially the smile, which is arguably the most complex and versatile among them.
Some of my studies explore how eye contact and facial mimicry influence facial expression processing in infants and adults. Other projects examine cross-cultural differences in smiling and effects of smiles (as well as other emotion expressions such as regret or guilt) on economic decisions in interpersonal and intergroup settings.
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Magdalena Rychlowska
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- Behavioural neuroscience
- The neural basis of manual interception Sports science
- Interceptive actions by goalkeepers (using a virtual reality simulator)
Movement coordination, with a focus on eye-hand coordination in interceptive tasks like catching (both fundamental [behavioural neuroscience] and applied [sports]). Since recently, I also started working on human-robot coordination, with a focus on manufacturing environments.
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Dr Joost C. Dessing
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- Clinical and Health Psychology
My research interests are in the area of the development and evaluation of psychological (e.g. cognitive behaviour therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)/behaviour change interventions to reduce the psychological sequelae of physical health conditions (cancer, chronic pain, asthma, IBD) as well as disease prevention through encouraging lifestyle change (e.g. diet/oral hygiene).
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Dr Pauline Adair
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I study chronic pain and illness in adults and adolescents with a focus on assessment and treatments aimed for facilitate meaningful living within a context of persistent symptoms. Through my research program, I have found that:
Chronic pain is a complex experience, composed of more than nociception alone
It is possible to improve willingness to have pain in the service of personally-identified values, even if pain remains,
Substance misuse issues in chronic pain occur in a clinically significant minority of individuals
Treatment effectiveness can be quantified as engagement in meaningful living, not merely as pain reduction.
My research has resulted in just over 90 peer-reviewed articles and chapters, 1 edited book, and more than 100 national and international oral presentations.
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Professor Kevin Vowles
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- Cognitive development across the lifespan
- Understanding and remediating cognitive learning difficulties
- Working memory – mechanisms, learning and training
- Mind-wandering in children and adolescents
I study higher-level cognition and its development across the lifespan. I am particularly interested in understanding what limits memory for the immediate past, and how those limits change as people grow older. My research has a strong translational perspective that uses core principles of developmental and cognitive psychology to understand classroom learning. I am currently undertaking a programme of research to probe mind wandering in children, examine its phenomenology, and consider the costs and benefits that this experience can bring in the context of educational attainment.
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Dr Agnieszka Jaroslawska
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- Addiction
- Aetiological mechanisms
- Treatment and recovery
- Attentional Bias Psychological Trauma
- PTSD and other co-existing psychological difficulties
- Neuropsychological presentations and neuropsychological and psychosocial outcomes
I am a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Director for the DClinPsych training course at QUB. I have extensive experience in clinical psychology training and as a clinical and research supervisor. I have a broad range of research interests including; Addiction, aetiological mechanisms, treatment and recovery Attentional Bias Psychological Trauma, PTSD and other co-existing psychological difficulties Neuropsychological presentations and neuropsychological and psychosocial outcomes
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Dr David Curran
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- Individual differences in personality with a focus on the Dark Triad Personality assessment
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive abilities, personality and performance
My work is interdisciplinary and focuses on personality, psychopathology and achievement across contexts. I am particularly interested in the dark side of human personality including Machiavellianism, Narcissism, Psychopathy and Sadism. Narcissism is of particular interest to my work with research conducted in our lab to suggest that certain aspects of narcissism may act as a bridge between the prosocial and toxic side of human personality.
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Dr Kostas Papageorgiou
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- Emotion
- Social interaction
- Laughter
- Affective computing
- Virtual Reality interactions
- Emotional and empathic AI
I am an experimental social psychologist seeking to understand the psychology of communication, social interaction, and emotion. There is an evolutionary and cultural evolution theoretical basis underlying my research. I use methods drawn from the affective computing and behaviour oriented artificial intelligence domains. I try to understand these issues using technology to observe and quantify behaviour. Recent topics of study include emotion, laughter, empathy, and gossip, and the methods employed include VR, physiological sensing, and face and body behavioural analysis.
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Dr Gary McKeown
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- Mathematical cognition
- Learning in a second language environment
- Bilingualism
- Development of reading skill in a digital environment
I am interested in the development of mathematical skill in children, particularly when this takes place in a second language/bilingual/immersion context. The impact of bilingualism on executive function and language in both children and adults is a core focus of my research.
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Dr Judith Wylie
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- Childhood adversity research
- The neurodevelopmental factors in psychotic disorders
I am interested in hearing from students who have an interest in PhD study in areas related to childhood adversity research, and/ or the neurodevelopmental factors in psychotic disorders
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Dr Teresa Rushe
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- Clinical Psychology
- Clinical Health Psychology
- Mental Health
- Clinical Neuropsychology
I am a clinical academic, my research is in clinical psychology and clinical neuropsychology. Mainly I am interested in whether and how psychological therapies work in mental and physical health conditions - particularly acceptance and compassion-focused approaches. All of my work is aimed at improve the quality of healthcare offered in the NHS, and other healthcare systems.
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Dr Christopher Graham
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- Trauma and Mental Health in Uniformed and Emergency Services
Trauma and Mental Health
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Professor Cherie Armour
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- Developmental psychology, particularly aspects of cognitive development including temporal cognition, children's thought about the future, regret and decision making in children.
Cognitive development, especially the development of thought about time, future thinking in children, development of regret.
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Professor Teresa McCormack
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- Social Psychology
- Computer Science
My research is focused on stereotyping and prejudice, gender and leadership, gender and academia, attitudes/resistance to diversity, virtual reality, bias reducing interventions.
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Dr Ioana Latu
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